Swing Low
by 221TARDISstreet
Summary: " Swing low, sweet chariot comin' for' to carry me home!" Home. That's all Dean Winchester thinks of as he marches along side Alfie, his secret lover's younger brother. The year is 1861, and the war between the states was just about to peak into a full fledged bloodbath. Dean fights because he has to, to save his own brother from meeting his fate on the battlefield. Destiel fic.


Dean woke long before the first rooster cried. He quietly propped himself up on his elbows and yawned, careful not to wake the sleeping man next to him, taking a moment to admire his flushed cheeks and tousled dark hair before he slid out of the bed. He slowly made his way down the stairs and shucked on his clothing. Sneaking carefully down the hall, he made a small detour to the kitchen and found Missouri, the help, making buttered bread and grits.

" Missouri? What are you doing?" Dean hissed, alarmed at the noise.

" Well, I had a feeling you gonna be out early so I make you some breakfast. Eat." She set the bowl in front of him. Dean shushed her and she cocked her head and put her hands on her hips.

" Don't you dare shush me boy, you may be mah mastah, but I knows where you been going so early in the morning." Dean raised an eyebrow, not sure weather to be angry or confused "Now sit ya self down and eat ya grits boy, or I gon' whack you o'er the head with my spoon"

" I don't need no breakfast," Dean whispered, eyes shifting from Missouri's stern face to the kitchen door, hoping Cas would not walk through hazy eyed and still warm from sleeping.

" Corse' you need ya breakfast, you'll walk roun' tired eyed all day long if ya don't. Now eat." Dean sighed and picked up the bread and took a bite. He was trying to be spiteful, but it all tasted too good.

" Thanks Missouri. You have no need to tell Cas I went out." Missouri pursed her lips. Secrets were poison, she knew, but something kept her from arguing.

" That fine. Now you go on and do what you need to. Tell that little thing Todd to come by if he hungry" Todd was the young beggar boy who often walked with Dean in the morning when he went into town.

" Yes, Missouri. He be happy to know." Dean turned around to see Missouri smile and place a hand to her chest.

" I just love lil' chillen'" she turned back to her pots and waved him away with her spoon.

" Go on. Get outta mah kitchen." Dean piled his stuff together and and got up from the table. He was getting ready to walk out the door when Missouri fussed.

" Put ya' coat on boy! You gon' catch yo death of a cold!" Dean puffed his cheeks, annoyed and grabbed his coat off the large steel nail by the door.

" Give Cas my love when he wakes"

" I will, child" Dean could hear the warmth in her voice. He stepped out of the house and the chill hit him almost immediately. He wrapped his coat a little tighter around himself and dug his hand into his pocket, surprised when his fingers made contact with four copper pieces. He had more than enough to buy a nice chunk of bacon for Missouri to make with dinner. It wasn't long before he saw the sleeping form of little Todd, huddled along the side of the rode and shivering from the cold. Dean knelt by him and put a hand on his shoulder.

" Todd, wake up" the boy sat up fast and jumped to his feet, eyes wide and alert.

" Don' do that to me Dean! You startled the soul outta me!" Dean grinned and slapped him on the back.

" Sorry, I got some news for you." Todd huffed, his breath white in the cold of the morning frost.

" You can't wait till the sun is up?" He crossed his skinny arms over his chest. " What news you got for me?" Dean shrugged off his coat, he wouldn't need it much longer, and put it over Todd's tiny shoulders.

"Missouri wants you to go to my house. She gonna feed you good. but first go buy a slab of bacon from the butcher. Can I trust you to do that?" Todd nodded and put his arms into the way too big sleeves.

" You even gotta ask?" the boy looked mighty funny in Dean's big coat. It hung all the way down to his knees and the sleeves were three times too big.

" Off you go then. Stop by the baker and buy youself a roll with the leftover." Todd scampered off, and Dean walked only five minutes longer before he heard the voices of tired and excited men. There was a war soon to be fought, and Dean saw it as an opportunity to make a bit of money. They would be fighting the North, those damned Yankees and their uptight ways. He walked up to the line only to find Garth, another farmer, looking soulm.

" Didn't think you favored war." Dean said as a greeting. Garth looked up and took on his usual goofy personality and grinned at Dean.

" I don't, but I ain't got nothin' to lose, do I?" He was right. He had no family, he lived alone save the two servants he owned. " Why are you here, Dean? You got plenty to stay for." Dean nodded and looked around when he caught a glimpse of another familiar face. "Dean?" Garth called, but Dean was already moving to get a better look. As he got closer, he saw that it was Cas' younger brother, Alfie. Just as he started to walk away from line to ask him what the hell he was doing, a large hand on his chest pushed him back.

" Stay in line if you want to enlist, please." sighing, Dean stepped back and shuffled forward as the slow moving line surged forward.

" I figured I could make some good money. We ain't gon be gone too long, North can't be too much to handle." He and Garth chuckled a bit and stepped forward every now and then. It got quiet and Dean's mind fell on Alfie, a small scrawny little fella of about fifteen, far to young to fight a war.

" Say Garth," Dean drawled, taking in a good glimpse of a few other boys Alfies age and younger. " Waddya say these boys are here for. they can't fight less' they eighteen." Garth smiled sadly and looked around.

" Some gotta do it for the money, some got that war fever." Dean nodded and supposed it was true. Boys didn't know what war really was, what it was like. They only heard stories about the good times.

" Someone oughtta get em' out before they do somethin' stupid." Garth shrugged.

" An army needs drummers, who else better do that than dem boys over there?" anyone was better than a child, Dean supposed. There was nothing he could do about it.

By time Dean got to the front, the men at the tables already seemed to be ready to go home.

" Are you eighteen or older?" a grey haired man asked, sipping from a large bottle of brandy.

" I am," Dean said, puffing out his chest a bit.

" do you stand to that statement?" It all seemed very stupid to Dean. It was obvious he was over eighteen, but it was regulation.

" Yes sir, I do." A woman started to take his measurements and a boy wrote down the numbers she called out. Once it was done, Dean signed his name on a sheet of paper and the man behind him stepped up to the desk. That was it, he was enlisted.

Dean dawdled on his way home, partly because he didn't want to tell anyone where he'd been, and partly because he wanted to talk to Alfie and see what the hell the boy was thinking signing up for the war. He dug his hands deep in his pockets and dragged his feet along in the orange-red dust of the Mississippi country. The sun was just barely dripping over the horizon, and the chill in the air was being lifted and replaced by a mild warmth. There was work to be done soon. Cows to milk and chickens to feed, but Dean's mind just kept wondering. Why was he going? Sure, the money would be nice, but why leave? So Sam wouldn't. Sam was his little brother, though there was nothing little about him. Sam had a better future than lying dead in the dirt somewhere, and Dean knew he could send his brother to school with the money he would make from fighting. That's why he had to do it. If he didn't do it who would?

When Dean walked into the house he could hear Missouri humming and the sloshing of a washtub. He walked into the kitchen to see Todd, looking like a drowned rat.

" Look at ya boy, I never seen ya so clean in your life" Missouri poured a bucket of water over his head and suds ran everywhere.

" Yeah, I ain't so sure I like it too much." Dean laughed and climbed the stairs. It was still early but Cas was usually up by daybreak. Dean knew he could tell Cas anything, nothing could really scare him away, and if it could the man would be long gone. But how to tell him he would be storming to the North was a different story. He was leaving, doing something he'd promised not to do. When Dean found Cas he was brushing down an old mare in the small stable they kept next to the house. He was stroking her long mane and feeding her carrots, and didn't hear Dean walk up behind him.

" I was jus' wondern what you been doing out so early." So he had heard him. Dean cleared his throat and tried to get the words through resilient lips.

" Guess you oughta sit down, you ain't gon like what you about to hear." Cas turned around and cocked an eyebrow. He seemed to understand that Dean wasn't kidding, and sat on the fence, wrapping his arms around the sturdy wood picket.

" What's wrong? Is someone sick?" Dean smiled, it was melancholy.

" No, no. I'm sure you've heard about the North, bout how there's gon be some fighting happenin real soon. They needed some men down there to enlist." The realization seemed to slowly drip itself across Cas face, his expression morphed from one of curiosity to one of fear, then despair.

" you ain't tellin' me you enlisted. You ain't tellin me that." he shook his head from side to side, as if the thought would fall out of his ears and into the mud.

" That's was I'm afraid I am sayin" Dean said, taking a seat next to him, covering Cas' hand with his own.

" In a little while, just a little while I'll be out there. I'm gon come back when I'm done. Simple as that." Cas had moved from fear to anger.

" What if you get killed? I can't lose you, you gone said you ain't gon leave me!" it was a hard thing to do, and Dean's heart sank into his stomach.

" I gotts do it for Sammy. You know how smart that boy be, he got a better place head of him that layin dead in the dirt. I said it before and I said it now. Sammy can't fight, so I will." Cas looked at him, eyes full of rage.

" You act like you ain't got nothin here for you." He pulled his hand away and stood, so as to not be touching Dean.

" You think Sam gotta better road head of him, so do we! We gots our whole lives to think about! here you go throwing it all away! What do you want me to do? Cry over you while you lay cold in one of dem boxes? No! I won't!" He walked away, back up the grassy hill. Dean watched as he angerly shoved his boots off and went into the house.

" Give him time, old girl" he muttered to the beautiful black mare, Impala.

" He'll see why I gotta go. Sides, I done saw that little thing Alfie up there. He ain't but fifteen." The horse clicked her teeth and pressed her nose into Dean's pocket.

" I ain't got nothing in there right now Pala, but you gotta listen to me. I'm gon be going real soon, and I expect you to hang in there. I'll leave you with Rufus, he always be good with you." Dean pulled around some hay and mucked out the stall a bit before moving on to some of the other chores. The work was hard and back breaking, but it was better than thinking about how angry Castiel was, or how upset Sam would soon be. Hell, Dean was upset himself. Though he didn't know him all that well, he hated to see that Alfie was going to fight. He was a scrawny spot of a thing, how would he carry a gun like that. Then he thought of what garth had said. " An army needs drummers" that gave him hope.

The sun had fully risen, and Dean was about to take up some of Missouri's chores so he would have something to do. He entered the barn to take a look at the cows and few goats they owned to find Missouri already there, humming a sweet song under her breath. She looked up when Dean walked in and clucked her tongue.

" You sure done it now" She looked at him in the disapproving way that made him feel ashamed of himself.

"He's mad, I know." Missouri interrupted him with a small fit of laughter.

" That boy in there ain't mad, he be heartbroken. He scared to death you ain't gon be comin' back. I's scared of that too, but I knows you can handle yaself." Dean sighed, he loved Missouri but he hated that she was never wrong. She somehow knew things, things you wouldn't expect her to know. She'd yell from the kitchen for Dean to take his boots off before he even touch the door handle, or yell that a bath was ready just before he asked for one. She was a mighty good lady and was Cas' caretaker as a child.

" I'm not leaving just to leave I-"

" You gon go to get Sammy to school, I know child. You gotta do what you gotta do, Cassie will see that. You just gotts tell em." She stood from the stool and set the full bucket of milk aside before grabbing a new one and getting started on another cow.

" I did tell him. he don wanna hear all that right now." Dean took a pipe from his pocket and stuck it between his teeth, he lit it and took a long drag on the hickory burnt pipe ash.

" Take that damned thing outta yo mouth and talk to me." Dean rolled his eyes and puffed a few times before putting it out. He really wasn't in the mood for a smoke anyway.

" You just gotta give him some time to tink it over. You go and finish this up and I'll cook the bacon ya sent Todd with. He's a good boy by the way, Rufus' givin him some of his old clothes from when he was a boy." Rufus was Missouri's son, who worked on the Novak plantation. The farm belonged to Cas' brother Gabriel, who minded Alfie. Gabriel and Alfie were the last of Cas' family, the rest of them had died in a fire during the dry season when he was sixteen. Alfie had been born a day before that fire, and the two remaining Novaks thank the pretty baby Jesus every day for it. How'd the feel if they knew that lucky little baby wants to test his fate further by running off to war?

" You know he signed up too." Dean said, absentmindedly. Missouri stopped mid pump.

" Who signed up? Not my boy, he said he ain't go no time for silly lil' games like this." Dean waves that away and snorted. Rufus in war, ha. He was too smart for that.

" No, Alfie. I saw him in line this morning." Missouri shook her head and looked up from the cow she was milking. She set the second full bucket aside and stood, distressed at the news.

" He ain't old enough for that, lord he can't go! You gotta get him out." Dean shook his head. It was almost twenty five dollars to get out of enlisting, no one really had that kind of money.

" There ain't no way I can, or I woulda done it already." Missouri sighed. She bent down and took up both milk buckets and nodded for Dean to open the barn door. It surprised him to see a lowering sun, it had to be nearly dinner time.

" I'll take care of him, I got two reasons to go now." Missouri hobbled out of the door, weighed down by the heavy buckets. Dean took one to lessen to load.

" Don't you dare go out there and get killed Winchester. Cas wont have nothing if it weren't for you." She walked ahead, ending the conversation. It was a lot to think about. Cas really didn't have much, but the war could fix that. Dean could buy a better house, some more horses. He could make sure Cas had something even when he wasn't around. Now that Dean really thought about it Missouri hadn't meant material possessions. Cas didn't have anyone, really he could talk to. He had Sam and two brothers, but aside from that he had no one. Dean was his closest friend and now he was going to be marching out to his death.

" I figure I shoulda thought this one over a bit more, whaddya think, Pala?" He stroked the horse's nose and walked slowly up the hill, careful not to slip in any muddy patches.

It was quiet during dinner, hardly a word was spoken. Finally, Dean had enough.

" You know, I ain't the only one goin'." Dean paused so as to get Cas' attention.

" Well, corse' you ain't the only one goin'." Cas snapped, taking a sip of water.

" No, what I meant to say is I saw your brother in line when I went up this morning. It surprised me. I thought he was only fifteen." Cas dropped his fork and stared at Dean slack jawed.

" You mean to tell me Alfie was there-little Alfie?" Dean nodded and Cas stood up quickly and walked to the door. " If this be one of your jokes it ain't funny Dean, tellin you right now." Dean grabbed his own coat and slid it on. Apparently they were going to the Novak farm.

" You think I would joke bout' sunthin like this?" Cas shook his head and went out the door. They walked in silence for a few moments before Cas finally spoke.

" I sure am gonna miss you." His hand found Dean's in the semi-darkness and he squeezed it reassuringly.

" I know, but If I go things will be better. We'll have more mone-"

" I don't care about the money, Dean." Cas said harshly. He cleared his throat.

" I just care that you still be alive when all's said and done." Dean nodded, it was dark but he had a feeling Cas knew he agreed. It took another five minutes of walking before they even saw the Novak house in the distance, but they could hear the music and laughter of some of the workers. The novaks owned a large plantation with just about seventy five workers who had living quarters on the other side of the fields. Despite the regulatory treatment of a colored person, those folks lived rather well, they got their own outhouse and other utilities. The Novaks didn't see any use in torturing the tortured, neither did the Winchesters. MIssouri used to work in the Novak house before she came to live with Dean and Cas. The woman was like a mother to all three Novak children, and she loved them so. Gabriel, the oldest was the only one who really remembered their birth mother, let alone their father. Both were rich and both hungered for adventure, on evening they went out and never came back, leaving their children with their slaves.

" How you reckon Gabe will handle the news with that heart of his givin' him trouble. Last thing ya'll need is to have him holed up in a hospital some place" Cas sighed a long tired sigh. It's not often you hear a breath like that, a breath questioning it's worth to finish.

" I haven't the slightest. He been working out with the farm hands past couple of days, I suppose he'll be fine." They finally came to the porch, a well lighted wooden structure with a few chairs situated around a rough looking wooden table. The table held a few glasses and a pitcher of water. There was a rocking chair set down by an awning with two of the farms littlest children looking up at the stars.

" Wonder where them stars all came from?" one of them said, they seemed to be siblings about ten years of age.

" Them stars up there come from the wished of little'uns like you." the two jumped and stared, as if caught doing something they weren't supposed to.

" Hiya master Cas, you come in for a visit?" before Cas could enter, Alfie came to the door, hat askew on his head.

" Well, whuddya two doin here?" a pipe hung from between his teeth, and his skin was burnt red from the sun.

" Came to talk to yer brother" Alfie opend the screen door and stood by it, waiting for the two to enter.

" You ain't come to talk to me? Shucks," He held a hand to his heart in mock hurt. " You done break my heart" Alfie grinned. He was a smart boy, only fifteen but he could read and write better than any boy Dean or Cas had met. He wasn't tall, but he wasn't short he stood about five feet. He had a round, young looking face and bright green eyes that shone with excitement at the simplest things. For a boy who never knew a father Dean figured he'd be better off than the rest.

" No, you be the one causing the heartache," Dean muttered, straightening the boy's hat and taking his pipe. " We came to talk about the fool you are for enlisting." the boy's face turned a pale grey color and he swallowed hard.

" Now you just wait!" Dean pushed past him and walked down the hall, Cas right behind him.

" You just wait one damn minute!" they were all in the sitting room now. Gabriel was sitting by the window carving at a block of wood. When he heard the commotion he looked up, mischievous glint ever so present in his eyes.

" Well, hello you you too. What all that ruckus here about?" Alfie glared at Dean, then at Cas before sitting roughly on a stool.

" Hey Gabriel, got some news for ya. I'd put the knife down if I were you." Gabriel squinted at Dean, turning his body so he was facing him.

" What's going on, you okay Cassie?" Castiel waved his hand to say he was fine, and sat next to his brother.

" Dean had enlisted to fight the North. He went this morning." Gabriel sat there for a moment and frowned.

" You ain't telling me you ran all the way up here to tell me he gonna shoot up some Yankees,"

" No, we came down here to tell you that your blockhead of a brother was there too." Gabriel took a moment to look between Cas and Alfie, sizing them up. His eyes widened and his knuckles went white around the handle of the knife.

" You told me you was out huntin, Samandriel." Alfie cringed at his full name, and shrunk into his chair. " Why you tell me you gonna go huntin when you just done signed your life away?" Gabriel didn't yell, he didn't stand or swat the boy for being stupid. He simply stared.

" I know you ain't gonna go yerself, and I know we gon have to get more money somehow. I seen the way those damned taxes get to you. You can't buy your medicine, and I weren't about to let you die." he crossed his arms, cheeks flushed red with frustration.

" That's why Dean went and signed up," Cas said, looking his brother in the eye. " War ain't a place for boys like you" Alfie was quiet for a moment, then he laughed.

" What d' ya mean 'boys like me'? What am I like?" Alfie was standing, his body was trembling with anger.

" I ain't got nothin'. I ain't nothin'.Ain't no one gonna miss a body they don't know is there." with that he straightened the strap of his overall and stomped out of the house. It was quiet for a long moment, the only thing that could be heard was the faint music and voices from across the field, and crickets and locusts singing their nightly hum. Dean was the first to speak.

" I ought to go get him." He stood but Cas pushed him back down again.

" He's my brother, sides you won't' know where he'll be hiding." that was true. Cas was only ten years older than Alfie, when they were young they ran wild down by the creek. The creek was their secret place, not many people knew much about it. It was about a mile out and hidden by some of the tallest trees Cas had ever seen. The banks were thick and muddy, littered with huge rocks they used to jump to and fro on.

When the thud of his step turned to be more of a squash of saturated soil, Cas ducked under a few branches. He looked over the water, which reflected the starry sky warping it into a moving masterpiece. It didn't take long to find Alfie. He was sitting on a rock, leaning back on a tree. He held a little frog in his hand, and stroked it's head with his thumb. Cas marveled at how it didn't struggle from his grasp.

" I dunno, Jitters. I guess I probably shoulda told Gabe bout signing up, but then the whole thing woulda been messed up." the frog croaked, as if a reply to Alfie's confession.

" You ever say anything other than that?" After another moment, Alfie let go of the frog and it splashed back into the water. Cas saw this as his chance, and he walked over to the rock and knocked on it.

" Mind if I join ya?" Alfie looked down and back up again.

" Yeah, don't mean you gonna go away though." Cas smiled.

" Suppose you're right. Mind if I ask who you was talkin' to just now?" He hoisted himself up onto the rock and next to Alfie. The view of the moon was astounding, and the stars shone brighter than ever.

" That was Jitters. She's a frog." Alfie picked at the rock underneath him, not looking anywhere but his brothers eyes.

" And what did Jitter have to say bout' this fix you got youself into?" A soft wind floated by, and the sweet aroma of pond lilies and maple tickled his nose.

" Nothin' more than you'd expect a frog to say, I guess." after a moment, Alfie seemed to make up his mind. He was going to talk.

" I just...I ain't got nothin' here. Sure I got to creek and home, but I ain't got no one. I'm all on my lonesome. Hell, I was just talking to a damned frog for christ sakes." This struck Cas as odd. Alfie was a charmer, a person who'd talk to you until you talk back. He had many little friends running around when he was young.

" Why you stay up here? Why don't you go down into town and talk with the boys down there?" Alfie's eyes saddened, and he looked out into the vast darkness of the field.

" Some folk don't like the way we treat the likes of Missouri and Rufus. They says it's dirty, like lettin' a dog sleep in yer bed." the words were hateful and they stung his tongue, and he didn't believe a single word of it.

" They ain't too much better to Dean," Cas commented, and alfie sat up straighter out of curiosity.

" Why?"

" The way we are. People don't take too kindly to the idea of two men sharing a bed. But ain't no one gonna stop us. Yeah they can be mean, they can kill our dog and break our windows, but we don't love any less cause of it." It was true. The town had been all but accepting to their courtship. They had broken into the house and destroyed the place, killed Dean's dog and a few of their horses. It had been terrible. People spit at them, whispered behind their backs and pulled their children away but for what?

" You gotta learn there's a lot of stupid out there, and sometimes there ain't nothin' you can do about it cept be the smart one." Alfie tossed a small rock into the water, making a loud clunk sound.

" I'd rather be stupid than be alone." he stood, brushed himself off and jumped off the rock.

" You know, you lucky you got somethin' to hang on to. You ain't slippin' like the rest of us. You know where you're goin'" so that was what this was about. Alfie was afraid for the future. He was right, though. Being the youngest had it's blessing and it's curse, and a terrible one at that. One day Alfie truly would be alone. Cas, Dean and Gabriel would all be dead, and he would be alone. He feared the future. Who didn't?


End file.
